


Burned Food and Birthday Presents

by beargirl1393



Series: Hayffie Week [7]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 02:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4689209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beargirl1393/pseuds/beargirl1393
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haymitch wakes up to the smell of something burning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burned Food and Birthday Presents

Haymitch wakes to the smell of burning food. Rolling over, he was able to confirm that his bed was emptier than it had been last night, which likely was the reason for the burning food.

Groaning, he pulled on a pair of boxers and wandered downstairs, following the smell of burning food to the kitchen and stopping dead in the doorway. Effie was standing in front of the stove, flour on her clothes, what looked like chocolate on her cheek, and her hair up in a careless ponytail, likely an attempt to keep it out of the line of fire. She was also using a spatula to poke ineffectually at a brown lump in the pan that had apparently been eggs, at some point.

“What are you doing?” he asked, because he usually handled the cooking. Effie was many things, but she wasn’t a cook. Cooking wasn’t essential in the Capitol, since they could have their food delivered to them, or just eat at one of the many parties that were usually going on. Effie rarely bothered to do anything more complicated than make toast and tea in his kitchen.

And she rarely even considered leaving their bedroom in nothing more than one of his shirts, without makeup or her hair done. Even though she had toned down on the makeup and ugly dresses, she still believed in being a well-dressed woman, and she didn’t like the kids catching her when she was wearing comfortable clothes rather than what passed for fashionable in Twelve.

“I’m cooking breakfast, honestly Haymitch,” Effie replied, with an eyeroll that he felt was entirely unjustified given that the brown lump in the pan was turning black now and the smoke rising from the pan was thicker now. “And you are supposed to still be in bed.”

Haymitch shook his head, nudging Effie away from the stove and dumping the pan in the sink, opening a window to get rid of the smoke. “If you wanted to burn down the house, you could have at least done it properly.”

Effie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest (which he appreciated, since it pulled the shirt slightly higher, and he had never been afraid to admit that she had great legs), and leveling him with an unamused look. “It is your birthday, Haymitch. I intended to bring you breakfast in bed before giving you your present. We have never been…together, during your birthday before, and I wished to celebrate with you.”

They weren’t ‘together’ now, all things considered, since they had never talked about what went on between them. They never had before, and now…now the war was over, the kids were doing about as well as could be expected. Effie had shown up one day with a few bags and the claim that she was only staying for the week. She’d taken the guest room, at first, but they ended up sharing a room by the end of the first month. Neither of them mentioned her former plans, and the kids were smart enough to keep their questions to themselves.

Or, at least, Peeta was and he kept Katniss from being nosy.

“Next year, leave the cooking to me and go straight for the present,” Haymitch replied, because he wasn’t going to get maudlin over burned food and a present that he hadn’t even seen yet. “In fact, I can think of a few presents that you wouldn’t even need to leave the bed for.”

Effie rolled her eyes, as he’d expected, but there was something soft in her expression, a fondness that he’d never seen before the war. Either it had never existed, or she’d been good at hiding it. Both were equally possible with Effie.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next year,” she said dryly. “In the meantime, you can attempt to salvage breakfast while I go and fetch your present.”

He complained, of course, but Effie ignored him and sauntered out of the kitchen. The extra sway of her hips as she turned the corner was deliberate, her smirk told him that, and he was tempted to just postpone breakfast until later (say, until noon) and follow her, but he didn’t.

She seemed excited about this present, which meant that he at least pretend to like it.

He’d expected some ugly vase or painting, or a suit, something that Effie would consider suitable for a birthday present and that everyone else would see as pointless.

Instead, Effie walked back into the kitchen carrying a little brown dog.

He stared between the evidently sleeping menace and Effie, hoping for an explanation. Effie was the last person he would have expected to want a dog, or a pet in general really, regardless of how ‘cute’ they looked.

“You have to name him, obviously,” she replied, either oblivious to his scrutiny or ignoring it. “But I think he will be a wonderful addition. He is a hunting dog, so Katniss will be able to take him with her when she goes into the woods, if she wishes, and he will also be our guard dog.”

“We have the geese.” And his knife, and the fact that he was a former Victor. No one would be stupid enough to try to rob them.

Effie’s nose wrinkled at the mention of the geese, unsurprisingly. She hated the birds, and her arguments ranged from ‘they’re unhygenic’ to ‘they want to kill me’ and everything in between. “Well, I am sure that Nemo will be a much better protector than your birds will.”

“Nemo?” Haymitch asked, snorting. “Like hell are we naming him that, sweetheart. Scotch is a good name.”

“We are not naming our dog after alcohol, Haymitch,” Effie huffed, holding the furry beast closer. “Birch.”

“Whiskey.”

“Paisley.”

“Cider.”

The discussion of names ended up carrying them through breakfast and getting the dog housetrained, since Effie had only gotten it the night before and it had slept in the box. They finally settled on Teddy and set out to make ground rules for it, Effie’s head on Haymitch’s shoulder as they bickered about whether or not the dog would be allowed in their bed.

All in all, it was one of the best birthday’s Haymitch had ever spent, not that he’d admit it.


End file.
